Golf champion Stewart put money where his faith was The Presbyterian Layman Volume 32, Number 5 Posted November 11, 1999 PGA golfer Payne Stewart will always be remembered as the guy who wore knickers. If you had looked closely at his wrist, and you would have noticed another item rarely seen on the PGA tour: a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelet that he wore at the U.S. Open in Pinehurst in June. He won that tournament, two other majors and 11 PGA events during his career. But the 1999 Open was special – it was his “coming out” as a Christian who was drawn into the church by his children, Chelsea, 13, and Aaron, 11. “I’ve got to give thanks to the Lord for giving me the ability to believe in myself,” he said on that memorable day at Pinehurst. “Without that peace I have in my heart, I wouldn’t be sitting here.” Stewart put his money where his heart was. Two weeks before he died, he and his wife Tracey gave $500,000 – more than his U.S. Open prize – to the First Foundation, the fund-raising arm of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla. The Stewart children attend First Academy, the private Christian school on the First Baptist campus. Not only did Stewart give, but he invited several other First Academy parents to a barbecue in his home to privately announce his and Tracey’s intention and urge them to add to the kitty. That night, the group collectively pledged another $700,000, expanding his act of generosity to $1.2 million. Jim Henry, pastor at the church, called Stewart “a wonderful Christian who had Christ in his life and somehow in his death. That brought a great sense of peace to his family in a difficult and tragic time.” In 1987, Stewart gave his $108,000 winner’s check from that year’s Bay Hill Classic tournament to the William J. Stewart House beside Florida Hospital in Orlando to support out-of-town parents of cancer patients. The house is named after Stewart’s late father. Joel Hass, president of the Florida Hospital Foundation, said Stewart’s generosity was particularly inspiring because of the deep spirituality of the man. “I think the thing that you have to recognize Payne for, and especially for us being a Christian hospital, is the whole way he approached life and the way he approached his community and what his community meant to him,” Hass said. “He was just a very generous person that really set an example for all kinds of people in his Christian approach.” The accolades for Stewart poured in after the Learjet transporting him and four other people crashed in South Dakota hundreds of miles off course. They came from fellow golfers, fans and sports figures, fellow Christians, President Clinton, and leaders in Orlando. The Orlando Sentinel called Stewart “Orlando’s revered golf champion.” Orlando is the home of numerous PGA champions, including Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara. Robert Fraley and Steve Ardan, sports agents who represented Stewart, also died in the crash. They, too, were Christians. “We just love Jesus,” Debra Ardan said after news of her husband’s death, “and are trusting in him now more than ever.”

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